Why Boys Don T Play With Dolls, By Katha Pollitt

Gender roles and stereotypes have always been an issue in society, and they still are to this day. Although feminism and woman’s rights have come so far in the past years, there is still more progress to be made and the sexist labels do not only happen to women. Having gender stereotypes, that begin when we are young, creates the platform for many of these sexist issues that women, as well as men, are still facing. The article “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls” written by Katha Pollitt expresses the ideas of male and female stereotypes along with feminism. She beings by mentioning how, over the years, the differences between men and women have stayed the same, and she believes that she knows why this is. She refers to Barbie as an example of how children are taught gender stereotypes from a young age. I feel that Pollitt’s main reason for writing this article was to make parents aware of how the way they teach their children affects it has on the gender stereotypes their kids will have. She supports this by writing, “Instead of looking at kids to ‘prove’ that differences in behavior by sex are innate, we can look at the way we raise our kids” (319). She …show more content…
I believe, like Pollitt does, that, yes, there has be a lot of progress on feminism, but there is still more that can be done. In America, women have the right to vote, but, even with a woman running for president this year, many people feel that women are unfit to lead a country. Even though women in U.S. are openly excepted into out-of-home jobs, they still do not get paid at the same rate as a man. I feel that many people misunderstand what feminism is all about. Feminist do not want women to be superior, but equal to men. I agree that women are victims of many stereotypes, such as having the right looks, but I am well aware that men have stereotypes attached to them too. That is why it is crucial that we work on the issue of sexism and well as